The Vatican on Tuesday unveiled a series of catacombs used by early Christians in Rome after a major restoration, including an online virtual tour by Google Maps offering a glimpse into the underground wonders.

The Priscilla catacombs where Christians worshipped and buried their own are re-opening to the public after five years of work in which restorers used lasers to clean up the religious frescoes on the walls.

The Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln's undying call for a "new birth of freedom" at the bloody turning point of the U.S. Civil War, turned 150 years old Tuesday, even as the union he fought to preserve quarrels bitterly over the role of government.

Thousands of people bundled up against the autumn chill -- some in Civil War era uniform -- crowded into the Soldiers' National Cemetery where Lincoln delivered the 272 words that became one of the most revered speeches in U.S. history.

Rare teas more than half a century old will take center stage at Hong Kong's first tea auction, with a prized narcissus oolong variety expected to fetch HK$1 million ($129,000), organizers said Tuesday.

More than 40 lots of vintage tea leaves from private collectors in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan will feature in the sale on Saturday, with the oldest dating back to the 1950s.

A one-time secretary to Imelda Marcos was found guilty by a U.S. court on Monday for plotting to sell a Monet painting which vanished after the 1986 revolution that saw the former first lady of the Philippines ousted.

Sentencing for Vilma Bautista, 75, will be held at a date that has not yet been announced, officials said.

A rare sabre considered a "historic testimony" to the creation of modern-day Saudi Arabia sold for more than $1.2 million at an auction in France on Sunday.

The 24-carat-gold and steel sword, with an ivory handle and long curved blade, was bought for 955,400 euros over the phone "by a mysterious buyer who entered bidding mid-sale," said auctioneer Jean-Pierre Osenat.

Nearly 2,000 rare American coins amassed over 90 years by a 102-year-old Missouri collector have sold for $23 million at a two-day New York City auction.

Heritage Auctions Co-Chairman Jim Halperin says Sunday that retired St. Louis lawyer Eric P. Newman began collecting in the 1930s, only paying about $7,500 for the 1,800 piece collection.

The heart of Argentina's cowboy culture can be found each year on the Day of the Gaucho, when thousands of people parade on horseback through the colonial streets of a town that seems like a living museum.

San Antonio de Areco in provincial Buenos Aires is known as the keeper of Argentina's gaucho traditions, hosting a rodeo and parade that brings huge crowds every year.

Andy Warhol's artwork has always grabbed attention and sparked discussion, but one of his portraits of Farrah Fawcett is about to receive scrutiny of a different kind in a Los Angeles courtroom.

The case centers on a relatively simple question: does one of Warhol's depictions of Fawcett belong to her longtime lover, Ryan O'Neal, or should it join its twin at her alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin?

There's no shortage of places for people to share memories of where they were 50 years ago when they found out John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. But a new website debuting Monday aims to take the focus from past to future by asking people of all ages — even those who weren't alive when Kennedy died — to share their thoughts about how he has inspired them.

The website is part of the JFK Library and Museum's commemoration of the 50th anniversary of JFK's death, which is Friday. The museum also plans an exhibit of never-before-displayed items from his three-day state funeral, including the flag that draped his casket and notes written by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

A team of Egyptian and French archaeologists have found five heads of royal statues from the pharaonic era, officials from the antiquities ministry said on Saturday.

"The heads, which had crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt and were made from limestone, were discovered" south of Luxor, Antiquities Minister Mohammed Ibrahim said in a statement.